You don't just walk into Mordor!

Wedding Info

2009-07-14T22:07:00.001-07:00

Directions
Exit I25 on Poplar and take Poplar all the way to CY Ave, take a right on CY, you'll be on CY for a few minutes, passing Wyo Blvd and the Walmart. On your right hand side you will see Armor's/Silver Fox Lounge and about a block past that is your turn right onto Prospective Dr. at the CY True Value Hardware store. Follow the balloons, which will tell you to take first left and lead you on a dirt road to a parking area. If you are coming from Muddy Gap to Casper you're going to already be on CY so look for the balloons at Prospective Dr. and you'll be taking a left. See you then!!

So we could have shelled out the big bucks and sent cards with directions and everything else, but we thought we'd be a bit cheeky and put it all here where many of you are used to checking anyway. The wedding will be at Mae's parents' house in Casper (4735 E Magnolia), at 5 pm on Sept. 5th. We are registered at the following locations:

Bed, Bath and Beyond-
http://www.bedbathandbeyond/

Target-
http://www.target/

The Pottery Barn-
http://www.potterybarn.com/

REI-
http://www.rei.com/

HOTELS
We have a block of rooms reserved at Super 8 and Ramkota Hotel, just ask for Hoffman/Horton. Super 8 is about a mile down Cy Ave from the house and Ramkota is a few more miles down the road but does have a pool.

Super 8
$80
307-266-3480
3838 Cy Ave

Ramkota Best Western
$85
307-266-6000
800 N Poplar

It's great being back home, we've been really busy but can't wait to see everyone when we see you!
Much Love
the Hortmans

The Snout and the Tombstone

2009-05-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

This is looking back at Picton from the Snout. The gorse is in bloom again and the sun was out, electrifying the water.

This is the best view we have had of the Sounds. The Interislander ferry is taking one of it's several daily trips out of Queen Charlotte Sound, across Cook Strait, and into Wellington. We just booked our tickets today and will be on that boat in a little more than a week. The other day the ferry was canceled due to the 11 m swell in the strait, that is more than 30 feet. Apparently they cancel if the swell reaches 7 m (20 ft.), we are hoping that we don't get a 6 m day where they are still sailing with 18 ft swell.
The Coffin door of the Tombstone, "world famous in New Zealand since two years ago."
The Tombstone is named for the cemetery across the street, the hostel is the grey building across the road. The address is 16 Gravesend Pl. and below the street sign the is another reading "No Exit", nice work there.
Lynne, on the left, and Gordon have a wood fire pizza oven and often do pizza night for the guests. Since we are "wwoofing" she did it all for us, including a bottle of wine. It really was the best homemade pizza I have ever had.
Pizza night with the other "wwoofer", our new friend, Anne from Germany.
Snowflake is one of the two cats living at the Tombstone, the other is black. Snowflake is deaf and therefore a very unique and hilarious cat. She is not afraid of noise so she plays with the vacuum and leaf blower, etc., and she meow's louder than any other cat on the planet. We call her "Snowflaken", a mispronounced version of her German name that Anne gave her after another British wwoofer couldn't get the German right.

We only have a week and a half left before we leave for Auckland. This might be our last blog from NZ. Thanks for reading them all year, we can't wait to see you all.

Love,

Johnny and Mae

The quaint town of Picton

2009-05-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

The town of Picton and the harbor. The big boat out on the water is the interislander ferry which we will take to get back up to the north island.
The harbor in Picton, on walks around the harbor we've seen dolphins playing with sailboats. They are awesome to watch jumping out of the water and racing with the boats.
The courtyard of the Villa, we spent a lot of time in the hot tub and Johnny spent too much time on the x-box that sits to the left of this picture.
The Van we drove to pick people up from the ferry. No power steering and tricky shifting!
The Villa, an old victorian home which now has nicely trimmed roses thanks to Johnny.

Well our time in New Zealand is dwindling down, less than a month until we fly to Tonga, an island south of Fiji. The last month we've been cleaning at the Villa, a hostel in Picton. Johnny's been doing maintenance work outside and I've been making beds and cleaning the hostel inside. We live and work with 5 other people which has been fun and at times frustrating. We cook for everyone once a week and serve the famous apple crumble to the guests every night. We've met some really neat people and we are looking forward to singing karaoke with all of them tonight at a local pub. Tomorrow we are starting at a new hostel in Picton that is much smaller, Johnny and I will be the only cleaners and we don't have to clean any bathrooms, which I'm pretty sick of cleaning. We'll be there for 3 weeks and then we'll head up to the north island to fly out. We'll be home before we know it!

Veltrousten (which we learned from our funny dutch friend, it means good night, unfortunately that is the only dutch word I know)

Maegen

Autumn in Aotearoa

2009-04-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

The pinot noir of the Marlborough Sounds. It is pretty much the only red grape that grows in the region. The white's do better in the slightly colder climate.
Had we gotten a chance to work for Wither Hills (above winery), we probably would still be in Blenheim. Anyway, we saw a friend from the vineyards in Picton the other day and she said they got about 3 hours of work spread over 3 days after we left and then they were all done. We left at the right time. This winery was beautiful though, and you can clearly see that we are well in to Autumn here.
This vine was in our backyard, although we didn't capture it really well in these pictures, the fall colors are great.

In our last days in Blenheim we walked all over the hills you can see in the background of this picture. They are called the Wither Hills (where the winery gets it's name) and are full of very defined ridges and valleys. They were good walks and gave us a great view of Blenheim, the Pacific, and even the North Island. We'll put pictures of Picton up soon.

Cheers,

Johnny

There and back again- A girl's tale

2009-04-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is where Bobby and Natalie are living, it's in Marlborough Sounds. Our first stop after picking up Amanda and Laura from the airport. It is really secluded, and both Manda and Laura almost lost it on the curvy as drive in. It's a great place though, Bobby and Natalie are lucky to get to experience it like they do.
From this dock Bobby catches about 66.666666 percent of their meals.
This is either Hariet or Harold, one of the two White Faced Herons that live out front of their caravan.
After traveling through Blenheim, highlighted by the bicycle wine tour, we went to Akaroa, just South of ChristChurch. Right after this picture was taken Amanda and Laura both narrowly escaped death as they slid down rocky chutes to the safety of the Harbour. Mae took the long way around to avoid the scary descent.
Here is the exact same picture minus the people. It is a peninsula on a harbour that is in a peninsula, it was a really cool place.
We then stayed a night in ChristChurch for a night, and then went over Arthur's Pass to the west coast. These waterfalls are near the base of Franz Josef Glacier.
This is the glacier itself.
Mt. Cook is on the right and Mt. Tasman is on the left. We were lucky with weather on the west coast so we were able to see them pretty clearly.
This is one of the golden crushed granite beaches in Abel Tasman. We did the last 8 miles of the Coastal Track which was a really nice walk. The water in Abel Tasman is a vibrant aqua-marine, it's awesome!

This is a fern frond on a punga tree, which is an important symbol in the NZ culture. It stands for new life and new beginnings, it is called koru.

We did a kayak trip to see split apple rock (below) it was a really fun trip. We paddled through a couple of caves and got to enjoy the crystal clear water. Johnny and I flipped our kayak over so Johnny could experience coming out of the kayak under water.

After Abel Tasman we drove to Nelson for our last night with the girls. We went to Marchfest (NZ version of Octoberfest). We had a great time trying new beers and listening to music. It was a great trip with Amanda and Laura, it was awesome to see parts of NZ we hadn't and we enjoyed their enthusiasm for NZ. Seeing them made it that much more exciting to think about coming home.

We are back out on the vineyards but working for a different company and it is going much better, we almost enjoy it. So we'll be doing that for the next few weeks.

Cheers, Maegen and Johnny

Settling in Blenheim

2009-03-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

That's Cassie, the black lab, who is such a good puppy.

The pool that unfortunately we have only gotten in a few times because it is starting to cool down.

So Jordan is all taken care of and it took us to about 4 days of vineyard work before we quit. Not a huge surprise to most of you, but it turns out we didn't care much for cutting out the diseased grapes. We were on contract work which means we had to go at a pretty decent pace in order to make money. But when you go at a decent pace then you miss some of the diseased grapes and the supervisor comes around and yells at you and tells you to go back and do it again. So you have a choice, to either do it slow the first time and make no money or try to get away with going fast and then get yelled at and have to go back again and make no money. We decided it wasn't worth the body aches to make 3 dollars under minimum wage. So it looks like its back to cafe work for us, we just can't get enough (sarcasm). Johnny's told me about a thousand times how much he can't wait to teach again. Other than that we are doing great, we still love our new house and flatmates. A couple of my friends will be here in a few days and we are going to travel around with them. We are really excited about that!

Car Talk - Fix Jordan

2009-02-27T17:38:00.000-08:00

I now live the life of a migrant worker. Not being able to understand your boss, him not being able to understand you, not understanding what you are actually supposed to be doing, being more of a number than a person (who's name is not important), and driving other foreigners around to different job sites daily. On this particular day, there was a German girl in the front with me and three Japanese girls in the back seat. We were driving down Old Renwick Road to the vineyard we would be working on all day while our minds atrophy. We were in the middle of a long row of cars all following the boss when we heard a loud clunky grindy noise that chunked for awhile and then turned into a really loud whirring noise (unfortunately I'm not as good at car noises as Click or Clack). The boss turned around and took three of the four girls, leaving the fourth with me. We called AA and got a tow truck. He hooked the cable to the tow hoop on the front bumper and started to pull Jordan onto the truck, of course pulling off the whole bumper in the process. After all it turns out the timing belt is shot and it will cost exactly as much to fix him as we paid for him in the first place. We will be accepting donations, checks or money orders made payable to "Jordan, the great white legacy". He should be up and running, taking us back to lose our minds in the fields by Tuesday.

Cheers,

Johnny

#4 this time around West Coast

2009-02-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

Our trip was quickly coming to and end which meant departing from Bobby and Natalie and starting to make our way north towards Blenheim where we hoped to find vineyard work. The campsite above was outside of Queenstown and the picture below is of Glenorchy which was a beautiful drive but not a very exciting town. We spent a few days messing around Queenstown and then Johnny and I started up the west coast. It was sad to leave Natalie and Bobby, we've had an awesome 6 months with them. They are going to travel around the south island and eventually make their way up to do vineyard work, so we'll see them then.

This is fantail waterfall, all along the west coast we saw beautiful waterfalls. It is one of the most green places I have ever seen, the rain-forest is so thick you can't see through it.
We stopped by two glaciers- Fox and Franz Josef which were incredible. It was amazing to see a glacier right next to the sea and rain-forest. I have a couple of friends coming to visit in a few weeks and we plan to take them back and actually go on a hike on one of the glaciers, so we are really excited about that.

These are correctly named the pancake rocks because they are layered right on top of each other. Below you can see the staircase you walk up to see the ocean.

After a few days spent on the rugged west coast we made our way over to Blenheim. We camped on this beach the day we arrived in Blenheim. On the way to this beach we stopped at another and actually got to swim! It is the first time since we've been in New Zealand that we laid out on a beach and the water was warm enough to get in. I loved it, it's funny that all four of us thought when we jumped off the plane that we'd be in our swimsuits on the beach. Little did we know.

So know we are living and working in Blenheim. We lucked out and are flatting (renting a room in a house) with a teacher and her husband and an engineer from the Philippines. The houses we looked at previously were awful. 5 to 7 people living in filthy houses, and Johnny and I didn't know what we were going to do, I guess camp forever (yeah right). So luckily we found this awesome clean house with 3 really nice people living in it. The husband actually works out of town so it's only the 4 of us during the week. The backyard is sweet, it has a BBQ, veggie garden, and a pool! We'll put pictures up soon. Johnny started working on a vineyard yesterday and said it was extremely boring but is was okay because he didn't have to deal with customers. I will start in a few days, and luckily we can listen to our ipods while we work. So we'll let you know how that goes.

Hope all is well with everyone, Maegen

Blog #3 this time around, the Routeburn Track

2009-02-22T22:22:00.000-08:00

We had spent the previous night at Deer Flats in a swarm of sandflies and actually got quite cold, so at this point we were a little cold and kind of nervous. Luckily it stayed cold enough that we left the sandflies around this sign, and we were walking enough that we warmed up quite well also.
At this point we had been walking (mostly uphill in her defense) for about 45 minutes and Mae had pawned off the tent, all the clothes, and all the food to me. Her bag had our sleeping bags and ground pads, it actually had a negative weight as if it was filled with helium. Her smile is very genuine, mine ??????
We dropped our bags at a short, one hour side route. It brought us up here to Key Summit which was well worth the walk. The next picture was taken from up here as well, it looked like these two pictures 360 degrees around us. Unfortunately when we set up our tents that night, Bobby and I discovered we no longer had our wallets. After all our precautions in the country, the one place we thought would be perfectly safe got us, we should have hidden our bags.

This is Earland Falls about 10 km from the start of the walk. It is 170 m high and falls into a perfectly clear pool.
These mountain daisies were growing wild everywhere. The pedals are much narrower than a normal daisy, and there were many more of them, they were stunning.
Most of the walk to this point was through pretty thick bush, but every time you got a view it was something like this. It was hard to put the camera away all along the track.
From a point up above the bush you got a glimpse of Milford Sound and the Tasman Sea beyond it.

The two pictures above are of Lake Mckenzie. Our campsite was basically right behind us, just back off the shore of the lake. The water was intensely green and clear, it was a great place to spend a couple nights.
We were running out of fuel and in spite of a fire ban, we risked it. Our fire was in the middle of the rocky shore and we really struggled to find anything dry enough to burn. Somehow we pulled off a fire kept alight with tiny twigs, that put out enough heat to cook potatoes, rice, and curry sauce in three different pans. We had just finished dinner and some self-righteous locals came up yelling, "The ranger's on his way! Do you speak English? He's going to evict you!" We put out the fire, looking and feeling a little guilty, ate dinner, cleaned up the fire ring and ashes and ran into the ranger walking up to the campsite. He casually asked if it was out (didn't want to check it), told us not to do it again, and delivered another fuel tank to our tent the next morning. "No drama" as he said.

The next day we walked to the top of the saddle, about 8 km in one direction all above tree line. It was incredibly alive and green for alpine, and just as startling as the previous day.
The track itself was really impressive. On many occasions you would find yourself walking up or down beautiful stone staircases. The DOC does a great job with trail maintenance.
This big "split rock" was a short walk from our campsite. It was a huge rock, split cleanly in two. You can't quite see in this picture but there are full grown trees growing out of the six inches of soil and moss on the top of the rock. It was a 40 km walk in total, and even though we lost our wallets, it was well worth it.

Cheers,

Johnny

Blog #2 this time around, Doubtful Sound and Lake Manapouri

2009-02-22T19:26:00.000-08:00

After the Catlins we were off to Fiordland to kayak and then walk. The picture above is Doubtful Sound, where we started our two day kayaking trip. To get to Doubtful Sound (which is actually a fiord) you have to take a boat 30 km across Lake Manapouri, and then take a bus 30 km over a mountain pass; the picture was taken from the top of that pass.
It was much drier than when we went to Milford Sound, so there weren't as many waterfalls. There also weren't as many people. Once we got off the boat to started kayaking we didn't see anyone else, and we didn't hear any motors, it was really incredible. We paddled down the length of Hope arm and halfway back in some pretty strong wind.
The black line coming down from the saddle in this picture is actually a fault. Just a huge crack in the mountain, which is pretty much solid limestone. I have never seen anything like it.
It was cloudy the whole day and in the afternoon we got this eerie yellow light. It was caused by smoke that had travelled over 900 miles across the Tasman Sea from the Australian bush fires. It was stunning to be paddling on the ocean and have mountains shooting practically straight up over 1,000 m all around you.
Mae sat in front and took pictures while I paddled us over 10 km in some pretty strong wind, what a deal!
That night as we came back across Lake Manapouri they dropped us off on this island beach to stay the night and paddle back the next day. We had the whole island to ourselves, fulfilling all of our childhood dreams. In our dreams however, there was no rain and definitely no sandflies. In reality there was plenty of both.
The scenery on the Lake was just as mystical as the Fiord, partly due to the massive amounts of rain. We woke ready to paddle the circumference of the lake at least once, got into the kayaks and realized paddling straight back was questionable, but we made it. At one point I had my paddle straight up trying to sail on the wind like we did in Doubtful and a boat flipped a U-turn and came to rescue us. I was highly embarrassed and yet greatly tempted to fake an injury and get a ride back.

This was the sunset over Lake Te Anau that night, still largely due to the Australian fires. We stayed this night under a roof, recuperating for the next leg of the journey; the Routeburn Track

Blog #1 this time around, The Catlins

2009-02-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

Huh, it turns out you can just walk into Mordor, Johnny (and Boromir) were wrong all along. Not that we have, we've just heard about it. We did however walk into some beautiful country and have seen some amazing things since we last blogged. Our first stop after Dunedin was the Catlins which is just south of Dunners (as we lovingly came to call it). We stopped at Nugget Point which had huge boulders going out into the ocean. The color of the water here is so amazing, crystal clear and turquoise. The waterfall is Purakaunui Falls which is a really popular spot for some unknown reason compared to the rest of the scenery. We camped the first night at Purakaunui Bay and had fun climbing around on the boulders and Bobby even got to fish a couple of times. While climbing around on the boulders we ran into a few yellow eyed penguins. It was awesome to be so close to them and watch them in the wild. The next night at Curio Bay we also saw hector dolphins in the bay, and they're very friendly. They swim all around and jump in and out of the water. If it hadn't been cold and windy we could have gotten in and tried to swim with them. It was a great start to the trip!

Kia Ora, Maegen

Last Days in Dunedin

2009-02-01T18:44:00.001-08:00

So we are out of the house on the hill and Mae and I are done working. The house we are staying in for our last week (few days now) is beautiful, you can hear the waves anywhere in the house and see the beach out every Eastern facing window. We took a little walk around the house, and this is what we saw. This is the length of Tomahawk Beach, the one we see out our window.
This picture was taken from the cliff-top golf course. The small village of Ocean Grove is in the background.
This is the main beach in Dunedin, St. Kilda and St. Clair. The suburb of St. Clair is tucked back in the corner by the hills, right on the beach.
I don't know what flower this is but the are absolutely beautiful, and they are everywhere right now.
This is a really old cemetery we walked through, with a good view of St. Clair in the background. As excited as we are for our upcoming trip, we are kind of sad to leave Dunedin, it is really a great town.

Cheers,

johnny

The Horton's Trip

2009-01-23T18:21:00.001-08:00

After we dropped off the Hoffman's we went back up to Kaikoura and Hanmer Springs. This was actually just a cool piece of drift wood on a beach outside of Christchurch.
While back in Kaikoura mom, who hates to be in or near water, convinced us to all go out on a whale watching boat. We saw lots of albatross and other sea birds as well as 3 sperm whales only 20 ft. from the boat. I'll try to attach a video of one of the whales diving. We were all very glad we braved the sea for the 8 miles we had to travel out. Back at Lyell Creek Lodge, Johnnie had another BBQ ready with free crayfish, Mae picked out this monster.
This is the bloom of the Pohutukawa Tree, a New Zealand symbol that blooms around Christmas and assures kiwis that summer is near. The whole tree could be covered in these dark red blooms, it is quite a sight.
While mom and Mae got massages in Hanmer springs, dad and I walked up to this little waterfall. It was barely hot enough to get in and we couldn't stay long, but it was really refreshing while it lasted. It was a really pretty walk and we got to see quite a few birds, fantails and bell birds to name a few.
A horrible 18th hole on my part gave my dad a one point victory in this little competition. It was so great to have both sets of parents here, it was really hard to see them go.

Cheers, Johnny
We thought we would put a picture of my ring up since it will be a little while until everyone sees it. But isn't it beautiful? I love it so much, and it was such a surprise! Here's how it happened- after we dropped off Johnny's parents and got back to Dunedin he thought we should go for a walk. So we went to a beautiful beach where we were all alone, he pretended he had to tie his shoe but when I went to push him over into the sand he pulled out my ring. And now we are engaged!

We are leaving Dunedin in about a week to sea kayak and hike the Routeburn Track. We are planning on settling up on the north part of the south island after a couple weeks of traveling. We'll let you know how it goes.

Kia Ora,

Maegen

The Hoffman's Trip

2009-01-23T17:58:00.000-08:00

We were back in Christchurch at this point to take the Hoffman's to the airport. Unfortunately it was time for them get back to the States. Here are a few more pictures of their adventures around New Zealand.

Queenstown Again

2009-01-23T11:04:00.000-08:00

It was here that we finally got to see live kiwi, and they were so awesome. They are much bigger than we thought they would be, around the same size as a turkey, and really fast. They can live up to about 50 and they are laying eggs literally to their last day. The mate for life but don't raise their young at all. Unfortunately they are quite endangered due to the introduction of the stoat and the possum. It was really cool to see them running around in the dark.
If mom looks nervous, it was nothing compared to how George felt in the Gondola below us. Neither being very fond of heights, they didn't love getting up the Gondola or the viewing deck all that much. We all did love the luge! There were some classic pictures taken of us while racing which mom and Linda bought. Mae says the Hoffmans split the title with herself and her dad each winning a race. As for the Hortons, believe it our not, mom won both races!
These are my favorite trees in New Zealand, although these aren't the best example in the whole country. They are called cabbage trees, and they look like the Truffula trees that the Once-ler cuts down to make thneeds, in "the Lorax" by Dr. Suess.
Unfortunately there aren't any pictures of our paragliding trip on our camera, but it was a riot. Mom and George were not that excited about it, but wanted to come watch so we had to follow in the van. At one point we had to jump in with the pilots, leaving George to drive the van on the wrong side of the road to the landing point. Sure enough we couldn't jump from that site so Agnes, the boss, called George on the cell phone to tell him the plan. Our parents couldn't really understand him in person, let alone on the phone. Needless to say, mom and George were quite surprised when a car pulled over and four South Americans jumped in with them to guide them to the next landing site. George later said that the driving was fine. Mom later said that George's driving was "fine". Once we had all jumped and flown down to our landing sites, the four who rode with our parents said it was the scariest thing they had done in quite some time, and they do scary things often. We enjoyed the paragliding but couldn't help feeling like we missed out on the real adventure.
Here we are back in Christchurch at the botanical gardens. It looked to us like this tree was flexing it's muscles at us, so we flexed back. They call Christchurch "The Garden City of Britain" as it was modeled after Britain. After walking around Hagley park and the gardens it is easy to see where it gets it's name.

Milford Sound

2009-01-18T14:42:00.000-08:00

These flowers, which looked like huge lupine, covered the valley floors as we drove in towards Milford Sound. It was a bit of a curvy drive in, and longer than we expected, but it was beautiful. We made it without stopping until we saw the Kea from the previous posting bouncing around a little turnout. They are incredible birds. They are the only alpine parrot and their intelligence compares to that of a chimp. They have been known to kick snow off a cliff and fly out to see if they hit anyone, and then repeat that until the people below don't think it is as funny as they do. They like to chew on soft stuff like the rubber on windshield wipers and tents. Anyway, we stopped to watch them for a minute and then made it in time to get on our boat about three minutes before it left (a little close but not unusual).
It was raining on and off while we were out on the Sound. They say there are only four permanent waterfalls, this being the first you pass. On the day we were there the waterfalls were to numerous to count, literally feet apart all falling quite a distance down the rocky, forested walls around the Sound. I've never seen so much water, it was truly incredible.
This was another one of the permanent waterfalls which they actually stick the bow of the boat under. Legend says that if women are touched by even a drop of the water it will make their faces appear to be ten years more youthful. The ladies standing down there in the picture may or may not have lost some wrinkles, but they definitely didn't expect the boat to go forward as far as it did, and they were screaming and running seconds after we took this picture.
One of these long cracks which water is often running down is actually where the two techtonic plates meet below New Zealand. Obviously they are the cause for the mountains along the west coast and they said they are stilling raising about an inch and a half per year.
We were lucky with weather. The rain made the Sound so incredibly mystical and yet the sun came out for spells of the trip so we could be up on the deck with blue skies and water falling all around us.
Waterfall after waterfall after waterfall. Easily one of the most beautiful places I have seen.

Cheers Johnny

Around Dunedin

2009-01-17T16:30:00.000-08:00

Sorry about some misspelled words in the previous blog, we did it late last night and didn't proof read it. Anyways after New Year's Eve we drove to Dunedin in our huge 12 person van (it was all the rental place had left), stopping by Moeraki Beach where there are spherical boulders. It was so great to be with our parents again, we were excited for them to see Dunedin. While we were in Dunedin we went on an awesome tour of the tip of the Otago Peninsula. We rode in a large four wheeler that took us to see yellow-eyed penguins and a colony of seals with many young pup seals. We saw two pups wrestling with each other, it was really cute. We also got to see a couple penguins waddle out of the water. It was a pretty cold ride, but well worth it, the views from the top were spectacular.

We also ate at Johnny's restaurant, and of course my favorite part was shopping down town.We went and watched the blue penguins come out of the water and make their way to their nests. Johnny's dad had a penguin walk right between his legs and peck at his foot! After Dunedin we headed to Milford Sound which will be our next post. The last picture in this blog is the bold and cheeky mountain parrot, the Kea, which we were entertained by on the way to Milford Sound.

Christchurch and Kaikoura, the First Time

2009-01-17T01:19:00.000-08:00

We just had a wonderful couple of weeks with our parents. That is why we haven't been calling or posting or anything else. It was a busy and excellent trip and we'll try to show you the best of it. First we picked up Linda and George in Christchurch and went up to Kaikoura. This first picture is the backyard of Lyell Creek Lodge where we stayed in Kaikoura. Below the pampas grass were the Hoffmans eating the enormous crayfish we caught when we went fishing with Johnnie George (the guy who runs the hostel). Kaikoura is a really cool little town where the mountains literally meet the sea. Sorry this is underlined, I don't know how to fix it.
At this point we were just getting back from fishing with Johnnie. We were so happy, one cause Mae's parents were in New Zealand, two, because we didn't get sea sick and we were sure we would, and finally because our newly purchased sun protection keep us away from the dangerous, cancerous UV rays so prevalent in NZ, and made us look really cool!
We got pretty close to these wandering albatross while out fishing. They say that their wing span can be up to 10 feet, they were absolutely enormous. Instead of flapping their wings they just glide and use their feet like a water ski.
This is lake victoria (more of a pond really) in Hagley park in Christchurch. It is a much better city than we first gave it credit for when we drove threw four months ago. Mostly it was always sunny and warm, kind of the opposite of Dunedin.
This is the Cathedral that is in the heart of Christchurch, with the rose window behind Mae and Linda. When my parents arrived it was New Years Eve and there was a big party in Cathedral Square. I was the only one who stayed up until midnight to hear and see a few of the fireworks. We had all gone to bed and I couldn't fall asleep due to the contents of my mothers fanny pack, and my contemplation of how to best present it to Mae, more on that later.

A Night on Long Beach

2008-12-08T13:53:00.001-08:00

This is the home of the best climbing in the Dunedin area. The little cave with the three entrances that we camped in is called Cathedral Cave and has some cool bouldering routes. Further down the beach is where they do sport climbing (our gear will arrive with our parents so we can climb a little in January). The big cave I'm standing in is the home of what must be some pretty wicked Guy Fawkes bon fires/parties. You can see how the roof of the cave has been painted black with the years of smoke. This was Mae's first day off since we went to Te Anau nearly three weeks ago. It was really good for us to get out, even if it did start raining in the middle of the night and through the next day. That wasn't so surprising though as all of my days off for the past month have been cold and rainy. Sorry the blog has become so boring, hopefully the pictures make up for the less than inspiring writing. Not much new has been happening since our last post, just more work. However, I am undergoing two major changes at the current moment. I, for the first time in nearly 25 years, have a great desire to be drinking coffee and eating soup pretty much all the time. I don't know what did it but there are two more down. I'm sorry to say that I don't love seafood yet, but the other night Mae made some Hoffman/Chugwater chili littered with beans and I loved it as well. Suffice it to say that we are turning over some new leaves here in New Zealand and are still so happy to be here, even if we do miss the sun we grew so accustomed to back home. That's all for now.

Cheers,

Johnny

Te Anau

2008-11-21T21:35:00.000-08:00

Te Anau, who's pronunciation baffles us still, is totally awesome! It is about 2 hours South of Queenstown, and is the gateway to Fiordland National Park. Te Anau the town is small but really cool with some great shops and pubs. It is right on Lake Te Anau with incredible mountains behind it. We actually stayed in the much smaller "town" of Manapouri, situated on Lake Manapouri (again with an incredible backdrop). Most of New Zealand's great walking tracks are around this area and Maegen and I did the last 6 kilometers of the Kepler Track. The next 7 pictures are from that walk. Not to focus too heavily on Middle Earth, but the canoeing scene at the end of the Fellowship was filmed on that river, and the forest was used for scenes of Lothlorien. We had a sweet cabin right across the street from Lake Manapouri. You could climb up the chimney and poke out the top to get a great view. We renamed Fraser's Beach, "Viking Beach" for Gunner due to the yellow and purple flowers all over it. We now have to figure out what tracks we want to make reservations for, and how we are going to explore Doubtful Sound, probably by sea kayak. It was absolutely beautiful, we had a great weekend.

Cheers, Johnny

Allen's Beach

2008-11-16T00:32:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody- These pictures are of Allen's Beach, where Johnny and I went last week. The beach was just gorgeous, it seemed to go on forever. Johnny and I climbed around on the rocks which had little rock pools and hidden seal lions. The sea lions always scare me because they blend in with their surroundings and then they hiss at you as you walk by. We also had a huge white bird (Johnny's convinced it was an albatross) dive bomb us because we were near her/his nest. He made awful noises at us that sounded like a propeller. I thought Johnny was going to get his head taken off by the bird swooping over him. The weather has been really nice lately, and it was so exciting to be on the beach with the sun shining. After Allen's Beach we drove up the peninsula and waited until dark for the blue penguins to come out of the ocean. We got to see around 30 penguins. They come out of the water in groups of 10 to 15. Then they climb up the beach and waddle to their nests where they have their partner and chicks waiting for them. In the picture you can kind of see his blue feathers, and they were only about a foot tall. The penguins walked only about 4 or 5 feet away from us. It was really neat, but unfortunately at that point it was to dark to take pictures of them (can't use the flash because it hurts their eyes). Tomorrow we are taking a trip to Te Anau and Doubtful Sound, where we will hopefully kayak. We'll let you know how it goes- cheers maegen

Tunnel Beach

2008-11-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

Rumor has it that the farmer who owned land nearest to tunnel beach dug the tunnel you see Mae in so that his daughter could get down to the beach in the next three pictures. The surf is really strong here and as a result of the beach access, the daughter drowned. A pretty sad story, which made Mae a little uncomfortable walking down the tunnel to the beach. We came across this enormous sea lion down on the beach so we climbed back up and watched it struggle across the beach and glide into the water. It would duck four or five waves at a time on it's way out to the open water, it was really cool to watch. There are just so many incredible landscapes all so close to us here, we are so lucky. You can see how big the tunnel is in the last picture with the little pink spot on top being Mae. It is also incredible how empty all these places are, even being so close to the second largest city on the South Island, it kind of reminds us of Wyoming. Now it's back to a week of work. Happy Guy Fawkes/Election day!

Cheers, Johnny

High Cliff Walk

2008-10-31T22:30:00.001-07:00

Hey Everybody!

We've just been working away, and by that I mean 30 hours a week in New Zealand. Things have been pretty good, we've had an awakening these last couple of weeks that we actually have to work here and that the jobs are not very interesting. I have been putting new label after new label on merchandise that had to be repriced, and Johnny has been dealing with grumpy co-workers. He also has to turn down shifts because they don't have enough employees and I have to beg for shifts in order to get enough work. But last week we had our days off together and we went for a beautiful hike. The hike took us to the top of a very large cliff that overlooked the ocean and city. It was a pretty steep climb up and so the way down was much more enjoyable! The yellow flowers in the picture were all over the hills and they smelled awesome (sort of like vanilla). We are now looking forward to our next days off together, and in a couple weeks, a trip to Doubtful Sound in Fiordland National Park.

Kia Ora, Mae

Recap

2008-10-16T00:13:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things we've wanted to add for awhile, we just needed a chance to use Bobby and Natalie's newer, faster computer, thanks guys.

All of us at Cathedral Cove (Narnia)

Mae thrashing in Raglan

This is a video of us zorbing way back in Rotorua.

Queenstown 2

2008-10-15T23:38:00.000-07:00

Unknown Range visible only from the Remarkables

After visiting Arrowtown, we drove up the Remarkables all the way to the resort, which closed about a week ago. The views were breathtaking and the pictures really don't capture much of it. It was a bit unnerving driving up as there are very few rails, big washboards, and steep drop-offs. It was well worth the nervousness though as it allowed us to see an entire range that you can't see from the town. We camped for the first time and our tent was great. It rained the second night and we were warm and dry. We can't wait to go back.

Two peaks over 6,ooo feet, rise above Lake Wakatipu

On our way back to Dunedin we stopped at Moeraki beach. These boulders are huge and almost perfectly spherical. It really looks man made but it's not. It is so nice to have a home to come back to, and to not have pack and unpack everything we own for a weekend trip.

Cheers,

Johnny

Queenstown 1

2008-10-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

The Remarkables, Lake Wakatipu, and Queenstown

Our trip to Queenstown was excellent. It is a beautiful town on a large lake surrounded by incredible (some might even say remarkable) mountains. The first thing we did was take the skyline Gondola above the town and did the luge. The luge had awesome scenery as you can see, and was really easy to control, both speed and turns. Unfortunately my head was far to large for the biggest helmet they had, which is why I look a little bit like the happy kid.

Johnny luging in front of the Remarkables

Sweet Helmets

The next morning we got up early to go paragliding. Queenstown is the extreme sport capital of NZ and they literally have it all. The paragliding was outside of Queenstown just in a valley. There were small villages we could see, but it was basically just gorgeous mountains, emerald rivers, green grass and sheep. A big wind came up just as we got up and they had to bring us down pretty quick which was disappointing, but we get to go again for free when we go back so it's not all that bad.

Mae flying with her Chilean guide

The small town of Arrowtown is about 15 km outside of Queenstown, visible from our flight actually, and was well worth the visit. The river behind us in the picture was in Lord of the Rings when Arwen rescues Frodo and crosses the river into Rivendell, it actually looked just like the movie.

Penguins!!

2008-10-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

So last night we went out on Otago Peninsula (about 30 minutes from our house) and walked to boulder beach, were Bobby had heard that we would have a good chance of seeing penguins and sea lions. It was a beautiful walk through the bush and a beautiful beach. We did come across two sea lions catching the last of the sun. As soon as it went behind the cliffs two penguins surfed up on the waves, stood up and waddled to their nests in the rocks. It was one of the coolest things I've seen. They looked pretty big so we thought they were probably yellow-eyed penguins, which my dad says are pretty rare. We couldn't get very close (and Mae said one picture would be enough), but you can definitely tell what they are, it was so awesome. Tomorrow Mae and I are going to Queenstown for a couple days (Natalie got sick so they are staying in Dunedin). Maybe when we get back we'll have some bunjy pictures. No matter what we do it will be nice to have a few days off together.

Cheers, Johnny

2008-10-10T00:54:00.000-07:00

So guess what? We found JOBS! I know some of you doubted us (stef, marcy) but we have been working for two weeks. Johnny is a waiter and I'm working at a cafe and a home decor shop. We live in Dunedin and the four of us share an awesome house that has a view of the city and ocean(picture of Johnny and I is in our living room with the ocean behind us). We are only a 15 minute walk from our jobs which are in the octagon(downtown). It's the picture of the cathedral and clock tower. Dunedin has several nice beaches but unfortunately the weather is still a bit chilly to be out on the beach in a swimsuit. It is nice to be settled and we will be here for at least four months. If anyone wants to visit we have a couple spare rooms!

Kia Ora,

Maegen

2008-09-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

We've been traveling a lot since we left Rotorua. After the mishap with Whakapapa Village (remember that the Maori pronounce "wh" as "f") we made it to Napier on Hawke's Bay. Again work was not handed to us on a silver platter so we did a wine tour on a bicycle built for two instead. We rode a total of about 25 km around the country side, it was a great way to do the tour. The wine was great and the riding became more fun with every vineyard. We even got to try wine from a barrel of merlot that will go on the shelves in about a year. We then started to make our way to the South Island via Wellington. We stayed there two nights, saw two movies, and then got on the ferry that Maegen kept saying was 30 minutes. Four and a half hours later we got off on the South Island. Driving to Kikoura that night through the wind and the rain we almost hit a seal, just like the one pictured, in the middle of the road! The next night we stayed in Christchurch and didn't love it so we kept moving on. The picture of the water with the city behind it is Dunedin, we did like how it looked and are now in the process of making it our home for the next several months. The other picture of us is at the tip of the Otago Peninsula where you can see albatross, penguins, and the spotted shag, which is the last picture. We'll let you know when we have jobs, don't hold your breath.

Cheers, Johnny

Narnia and Zorbing!

2008-09-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody!
We went to the beach where Prince Caspian was filmed. It was absolutely amazing! Johnny achieved his childhood dream of going to Narnia. The beach was so white, and the water was a deep emerald. We explored a few caves and walked around the beach enjoying the sun and beautiful morning. Johnny and I were champions of an ultimate frisbee game, afterwards Johnny and Bobby just had to jump in the ocean. It is still way too cold for any sane person to jump in. Next we drove to Rotorua where there are famous hot springs. We soaked in hot pools (some almost 110 degrees) that over looked a lake, it was very relaxing. The next morning we accomplished a Kiwi classic, Zorbing. You basically get in a very large inflated ball and roll down a hill. The inner ball has water in it, which makes it more like a water slide. That night we went to a Maori (the native people of NZ) lodge for dinner and a show. We saw them paddling their war canoe, doing the famous war dance, the haka, as well as other traditional songs and dances, and ate a traditional honga (feast). The food was awesome and the haka was scary. Now we are in Hawke’s Bay looking for jobs, we’ll keep you updated.
Kia Ora, Maegen

Job Talk:
This will be kind of like car talk, but since Jordan has straightened out, the new drama in our lives is finding a job. So far our search has been very half-hearted. We ask the owner of the hostel if there is work, they say no, and we concede. On our way to Napier, Hawke’s Bay, we were shopping around Taupo and a nice woman told us to try Whakapapa Village for some possible work at a ski resort as the season is unusually long this year. Literally without a second thought we changed our plans completed for this wild goose chase. They ski on a volcano at this particular resort, Mt. Doom actually, and it is the North Island’s biggest resort. We stopped at a visitor’s center and they have the nerve to not offer us a job. They didn’t say there were none, they just said we would need to go to the lodge and see. The lodge was closed and there were no vacancies within 40 km, so yet again we threw in the towel and backtracked the hour to Taupo and the next day, our original destination of Napier. It was by far our longest distance we have traveled yet to not really look for a job.
Cheers, Johnny

Trips Around Raglan

2008-09-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

So we left Ahipara, our longest home so far, and made an eight-hour drive south to Raglan. Jordan did much better than we did with the drive as all the roads are beautiful but really curvy and washing out everywhere, we all felt sick 10 minutes into it. While still in Northland we drove through Waipou Forest, a rainforest that is home to the largest living Kauri tree, Tane Mahuta. It is pictured twice, once close-up with Mae, Natalie, and Bobby and once zoomed out (they are very small below the tree) so you can hopefully get an idea for how big it is. Kauri trees are very important to Maori culture, used for canoes, maraes (meeting houses), etc. Tane Mahuta is Maori for Lord of the Forest and started growing before Christ was born, making it over 2,000 years old. The base has a 45 ft. circumference and it is over 180 ft. tall. Pictures don’t do it justice, it was incredible. Raglan itself is a cool small surfing town on the west coast in the Waikato region, central North Island. It is rumored that Jack Johnson spends a week or so there each December he likes it so much. We tried surfing one day on the black sand beach you seen Mae and Natalie on but it was pretty rough and we didn’t do to well. The next morning we went on a short bushwalk to Bridal Veil Falls, the remaining pictures. It was around 180 ft. tall as well, and as you can see a straight drop. Bobby and I jumped in the pool below, which was the coldest water we’ve been in yet. We are now on the Coromandel Peninsula in a small town called Hahei. Tonight we will hopefully go to Hot Water Beach, where at low tide you can dig a hole in the sand and it will fill up with hot water, making it your own private spa. We are having a great trip and are now starting to look apprehensively forward to really finding work.
Cheers, Johnny

Endless Summer Lodge

2008-09-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

We’ve been in Ahipara now for 7 days, cleaning for rent. The first full day we had we made a 100 km drive north to Cape Reinga. It is very nearly the northernmost point in New Zealand (the North Cape is a bit further north), and it is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean collide. The picture of the lighthouse was taken there and it is the West Coast behind us, which is the Tasman Sea. On the way back down we stopped at Waitiki Landing, which is the picture of the sand dunes. They were really big and really steep so we rode down them in those little sleds and just got sand everywhere, it was quite fun! Like Mae said, Endless Summer Lodge is across the street from the beach, and a few minutes from a great surfing beach called Shipwreck Bay. Bobby has taken me out a couple times and tried to teach me. I can kind of start to feel it, but it is incredibly difficult, I’ll keep trying. We will leave Ahipara and start to make our way to the Central North Island on Friday.

Cheers, Johnny

Promised Pictures

2008-08-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

Here are the promised pictures from our last post. The picture of the lilies was taken on the side of the road, they grow everywhere here.

Northland!

2008-08-27T23:32:00.000-07:00

We’ve been up in the wops (boonies) where Internet is hard to come by, so we have a lot to share. We’ve been staying at Kahoe Farm Hostel, where we had an old house all to ourselves! Stefano, the guy running the place, was originally from Italy, and as a perk for staying there he will cook guests proper Italian meals. On two occasions he made us a couple homemade pizzas and pastas, which were delicious! He was also a football (soccer) fiend and Bobby and Johnny got to go to his small clubs training one night. We went on some amazing hikes around the farm. Our first hike was to the Duke’s nose where Bobby, Natalie, and Johnny climbed a steep, rocky cliff. In the picture you can see Bobby and Natalie coming down the cliff hanging onto a chain. On top of the cliff you could see the ocean and all the beautiful green hills around. Our second hike was to rock pools, which is actually on their farm. This was probably our favorite hike because we met Franklin the goat who was Johnny’s best friend. He followed us around and wanted to be pet. The pools were gorgeous, very green and deep, so of course Johnny and Bobby jumped in. It was way too cold and rainy for Natalie and I. We walked through some true bush, which is what they call the wet forest around here. The only downfall to these hikes is the sand flies that bite like crazy. The bites are a little itchier than mosquito bites and last far too long. Today we drove to the west side of the island and we are staying right on the beach. It’s so awesome to hear the waves crashing right outside our window. We are going to stay at this hostel for a week and clean for a couple of hours a day for part of our accommodation. From here we can visit the 90 Mile Beach and hopefully learn to surf with our wet suites on.
Cheers, Mae

More pictures to come, it takes a long time to upload them. Sorry!

Car Talk - Meet Jordan

2008-08-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Here is our 1989 Subaru Legacy. We named it Jordan because that is the name of the young guy who originally drove us around in it for our test drive (more precisely after the smell the car had that we all associated with Jordan the person). Our version of car talk will just tell adventurous stories, no mechanical solutions to the many problems we might have. Adventure is constant with Jordan seeing as how first of all, the steering wheel is right in there on the right side. It's a standard which means while you're driving on the left side of the road you are trying desperately to be kind to a very old clutch while shifting with your left hand. Left turns are dreamy and right turns are confusing and scary at best. After handing over the 900 NZ dollars to the owner, Maegen drove away. About two minutes from the shop we bought it at she went to pull down her visor and snapped it clean off. You should know that we did have the car inspected and got two new tires and a cv boot (what the inspector told us to), so it should work out, but it's old and the visor really broke the ice. The next day when we went to leave Auckland, the driver's seat belt wouldn't work. To our great surprise we fixed it, drove off and about ten minutes later Mae, still driving at this point cause the rest of us were too scared, went to shift and pulled the whole gear shaft (the thing you hold to shift, I think it's a gear shaft) off the little knob. We all freaked out but she shifted with the tiny knob until we could pull over and push that back on, which we'll have to keep doing all year it looks like. Then finally we had several hours of peace with Jordan until Bobby pulled into Whangarei. We heard a ticking which scared us again so as he went to pull over it turned into a gigantic crunch and our collective heart sank. Again it turned out to be cosmetics as it was just the liner to the wheel well. We try to compliment Jordan as much as possible, seeing as how that is about the best we can all do for a car, and thus far he has responded in the most exciting way.

Great Beach

2008-08-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

Unkown Beach near Whangarei

- It was raining cats and dogs, literally, a very strange scientific happening; but we pulled over to get a brake from the curvy, wet road and found paradise. As soon as the clouds broke the water turned an incredible aqua marine and the beach was the softest I've ever been on. We climbed around the hills in front of us in the picture, through a crack in a rock, that led to another cove. It was our best stop yet by far.

The Falls

2008-08-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

Whangarei Falls

- We walked around the falls and it was so pretty! Of course it was raining off and on but we really enjoyed it.

2008-08-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

Our second day was really busy with orientation, bank accounts, and cell phones; but we got a lot done. We've also now had a chance to try a couple NZ favorites. L & P (which is sort of like a lemon coke but a little more like a lemon dusting agent) is actually quite good. Actually Mae and Natalie don't like it at all and Bobby just wants to at this point, so maybe I do just because I should. BurgerFuel might be there equivalent to In-and-Out in the sort of burger deity status it holds with the locals for fast food. It was quite good as well, although Natalie was extremely brave and ordered "The Bastard", which had a third of a pound of beef with beetroots (her least favorite part of it), mango, avocado, bacon, aioli sauce (which was great), and maybe a couple other things I can't recall now; she was unimpressed. We're all enjoying ourselves especially as our bodies start to adjust to the day and a half time change. Later!

We're in Auckland!

2008-08-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

We got to Auckland at about 6:00 am, New Zealand time. The flight was pretty painless as it was only 12 and a half hours from LA and we slept for most of it. It's cool and rainy which is very welcome from WY and CO. We left our camera in our hostel for our first walk about but will improve on that I promise. It really feels like dinner time but we are going to have lunch.

We are going to New Zealand

2008-06-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

We don't leave however for 2 months, so if you want to know what we'll be doing there, check back in August.